(Closed) VENT: Apparently because I’m atheist, my life has no purpose…

Atleast that’s what one of FI’s coworkers think. Fiance was discussing our upcoming wedding and somehow the topic of our religious beliefs came up. I am not shy about my beliefs (or lack there of) but I’m always respectful. To be honest, I think most religions are almost laughable but I don’t go around telling people who are members that I think they’re ridiculous for believeing what they believe. I don’t give a crap what anyone believes as long as they respect those who think differently. You can believe that theres some fairy octopus in the sky granting wishes and I could care less as long as you don’t judge me for my beliefs.

Apparently this guy is a pastor on the side so I guess thats why he felt he had the right to say those things. Frankly, I don’t care if you’re the friggin pope. Just because I don’t believe in God (or the equivilant of) does not mean that my life has any less of a purpose than those who do.

Heh, if it makes you feel any better, a lady I was sitting next to on a plane last month noticed my engagement ring and chatted me up about wedding plans for about 20 minutes or so until she asked if I was excited about getting a home with him…

… I told her we’d already been living together for over a year

she says “oh…you LIVE with him already?”

I said “yep”

And she turned back to face forward in her seat and didn’t even make eye contact with me for the rest of the flight. At first I felt awkward and a bit taken aback, and then I decided I was happy I could get back to reading my trashy magazine anyway.

Yes total stranger, I moved in with my boyfriend of 4 years and that makes me a turbo whore – thanks for judging! Nice chatting with you!

Well, I am a Christian and I can’t stand Christians like this either. If you don’t believe in God and you live a life that makes a positive earthly impact how is that any different from the earthly impact of a Christian’s life. Just because we believe there is also an eternal impact as well doesn’t marginalize the meaning of your earthly life. What a judgemental way to look at things.

Ugh. Some people are ridiculously rude and judgemental. I am a Pastor’s daughter (although I only really go the church on my parent’s birthdays). My Fiance is Agnostic. I have also received a ton of rude comments and lectures about how we are going to screw up our kids because of our mixed beliefs (none of these comments are from my immediate family though, they are all super accepting!) It is frustrating and quite frankly nobodys f-ing business.

Maybe he should spend some more time evaluating his own “purpose in life” as currently it seems as if involves being intrusive and judgemental. Great characteristics for a Pastor!

As a Christian I will say that I cannot stand when religious people put down or judge others for their different beliefs. I’m sorry you had to go through that! There’s a difference between someone trying to genuinely educate people about their faith and people who just put down others for the sake of religion..it’s annoying as hell.

Of course you have a purpose in life as an atheist, it is your job to eat all the babies! Cause I’ve been told that’s what we atheist folk do!

I just keep my mouth shut regarding religious topics when I’m around religious folk so I don’t offend anyone unintentionally, I just wish they would do the same for me, they can be really mean sometimes talking about non-believers. I even bite my tongue around FI’s proselytizing, home-schooling, young-earther cousins when they say garbage about human/dinosaur cohabitation.

It’s definitely not a Christian teaching that atheists don’t serve any purpose. We’re all equally made in God’s image, and deserving of respect and love, whether we beleive in him or not. What I think he meant to say was that he beleives that you beleive that your life isn’t serving any higher purpose. If you follow the logical conclusions of classical atheism, it leads to not beleiving that there is any higher purpose to what you do, other than to get along with other people, so they’ll get along with you. I think if he asked you “do you think that there is a higher purpose to your life, and that you are called to accomplish a specific task in this life?”, you would have probably said “no”.

If he’s a pastor, he may be used to discussing philosophical/theological issues in detail with other people, dicussing their strengths and weaknesses, and where they lead you to if you follow them, and whether there is a better alternative. This is what Christians do in bible studies, and I can understand how to someone who’s unchurched, and not used to that sort of thing, it could seem judgemental.

That said, he’s responsible for a major communication FAIL, which has already had repercussions in the relationship between him and your Fiance. We aren’t held accountable for what we mean, we’re held accountable for what we actually do, and if you told him how his remarks came across, there’s a good chance he’d apologise, and explain in more detail what he was actually trying to say.

It annoys me when people try to preach to me but I’ll just grin and bear it since they think they’re doing me a service. Telling someone they have no purpose is just rude and offensive. I’ve never even met this guy!

As an atheist (and one who officiates on the side for friends and takes it quite seriously) I’m offended by this guy. Besides, since you aren’t banking on an afterlife wouldn’t your acts during this life count as meaningful (since it’s all you have to make a difference)?